Many attempts have been made to devise a viable means for converting the energy contained in the bobbing waves of the open ocean to a readily usable form. However, the vast majority of those who have thus endeavored lack the necessary knowledge and understanding of the underlying, intrinsic physical properties and forces involved. The surface state of any ocean (or portion thereof is constantly changing, and any device which cannot accommodate varying seas is simply not viable. Granted, no device will derive energy from a calm sea, but that's because there isn't any energy to derive, rather than it being a fault of the device. Another state which must be handled is that of fully developed seas. Such conditions are typically associated with hurricanes or storms with hurricane force winds. A truly viable device will not only weather hurricanes, but will operate at peak efficiency while so doing. Additionally, any designer must understand and consider factors like wave periodicity and their relation to significant wave heights, and the less common H/10s, H/100s, and rogue/freak/monster waves. The devices must not only be able to weather such events, but not be adversely affected thereby. As such, most machines, once constructed, don't perform as envisioned.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,315,092 B2 describes an interconnected three float device which similarly suffers. While the idea and design seems workable (it only requires angular movement between the floats), any given implementation only has a chance of functioning in seas with a harmonically matching wavelength. If the wavelength is too long, the entire machine will simply ride the waves as a whole, without any movement between the three floats. Similarly, if the wavelength is too short, it will basically lie flat, again without movement between the floats. Also, based on the example given in the detailed description section and reasonable approximation from the diagrams, when any (or all) of the floats are subjected to the situation where one end of a float is subjected to a rising wave and the other end is subjected to a lowering wave (trough), the machine would simply list, or even roll over on its side, rather than actuate. Waves are anything but smooth and predictable. They are completely random and erratic. When designing a device, consideration must be given to all circumstances and possibilities, not just the envisioned ideal.
Contrary to the inventor's assumption of 45 degree wave slopes, the maximum slope of undulating waves (or waves with sustained continuity—meaning that they don't break or splash), which are the most typical in the open ocean, is only 30 degrees. Even with ideal wave formations (which are extremely rare, especially continuously over any period of time), and if the three floats are properly weighted (meaning that when they are at rest in a calm body of water they are each half submerged), then if the two end floats are subjected to rising waves and the center float is subjected to a lowering wave (trough), because of the resistence of turning the generator (optimally, the machine should be tuned to match the resistance of the generator such that when two connected floats are differentially acted upon by rising and falling waves, that the generator not turn until the top of the rising float is level with the top of the rising wave [basically submerged], and the bottom of the falling float is just touching the top of the falling wave [basically out of the water]), the machine wouldn't flex at all because its proportions are such that it would require that the wave slopes be greater than the 30 degree limit placed on them by nature. Yes, a less resistant (smaller) generator could be used, but then only a modicum of energy would be converted, and the vast majority wasted. Sure, no device will be 100 percent efficient, but to be cost effective, it needs to be in the higher end of the spectrum, not the lower end.
The most important aspect of creating a machine for efficiently converting wave energy to a more usable form is to maximize and capitalize on the differential movement between two (or more) connected physical objects. While almost all inventors of wave energy converters can envision their machines working, they simply don't recognize most of the natural forces at play. Literally hundreds of patents have been granted for wave energy converters, yet only a hand full are actually being attempted anywhere in the world.
An example of a good scenario for maximizing the coveted movement differential would be to use a piling of a pier, and mechanically connect a float to it. The piling is fixed and immovable, so when a wave raises the float, the differential in movement could be exploited to its fullest. Piers are not really viable since people wouldn't want the coastlines of the world covered with them, and they're also typically in shallow water. The biggest waves are out in the open ocean, in deep water, and building piers in thousands, or even hundreds, of feet of water just isn't practical. The idea is to mimic, as much as possible, the fixed nature of piers in the open seas. The invention described herein does just that.